Shadow of the Abyss

Chapter 180: Power or Morality

The tavern was dreadfully silent before, one by one, many people began fainting. They dropped like flies, foaming at the mouth as their airways began to close.

"milady!" shouted the Tavernkeep, on his knee coated in sweat. "Please have mercy! Give us mercy!"

Ula turned to the Tavernkeep and counted those who weren't affected. She raised her hand to them, signaling to her knights.

As the presence receded, the echoes of gasps resounded through the tavern.

"Do you understand now?" said Ula with a sullen air of superiority.

Neither Altair nor Reina had bothered to even glance at her as they clanked their glasses together, "To the Endless Night!" they said happily, downing their mimosas.

"Damn..., " said Altair, taken back. "That is good. Really good."

Ren was nodding, her almond-shaped eyes glittering. "another!"

"Bastards, " said Ula when her knight's sword weaved past her, blurring like a string of white light; it hissed towards the young prince.

A hexagonal domain sprang from out of the void, clashing with the blade.

The echo of the clash had been thunderous, deafening those below the third circle. Nevertheless, the barrier held, crackling with an endless sea of embers as Ula's knight sword began to grind against the barrier.

Altair's eyes turned to that of blood. A chill unlike anything Ula had ever faced came over her as she leaped away in a blur.

"Retreat!" she shouted, unable to shake the unease within her heart.

"my lady!" shouted Galvan, falling back to his lady's side with Norp. "What's wrong? I—" Exclusive content from m,v lem|p,yr

"That is no second Circle," said Ula darkly. "Who the hell are you?"

"Now you ask?" said Ren incredulously, turning to meet her prince's baleful eyes. "Are we going to kill them?"

Altair was thinking. He'd have half a mind to break her with [Schizophrenia] to make some part of her mind aware of her actions before having her live out her days as a whore. To have her betray each and every person she'd ever loved: Mother, Father, Brothers, Sisters, even her future children. It would be so easy. One little command and...

'but was there a need to go that far?' he wondered, finding the principle of the matter to be skewed.

He owed this woman nothing. She was just a weakling, a worm that had yet to learn how to bow.

'So why not break her? Why not show her my cruelty?' he told himself. 'No one could stop me. No one would know. Even if they did, why would it matter? I've killed people. I've tortured.

So what's the difference? Is one worse than the other? Does it even matter? I've already tasted betrayal... '

As Altair unraveled into a well of internal controversy, Reina stood to her feet and glanced at the one who ruined her breakfast, Galvan. The stare might have been no longer than half a beat, but Galvan felt the cold steel of a blade lunge through his heart before it was gone. Her valiant eyes were on her princes.

"Art?" whispered Ren, brushing her palm from his cold black hair down his cheeks. "Let's go... no need to let bloodshed ruin our day."

Something the duo found to be quite interesting, especially when it came to controlling the Essence of the Vale.

However, a question did emerge in recent days. "who created the System of Order for the various sorceries."

"Think we'll find them? Three days and still nothing, " Altair remarked, opening the door to a sorcery shop within Vesim. He'd been looking to create some runes to imbue on their clothing to keep them warm, but required a fire shard.

"Hopefully. I want to try assimilating that blood shard," said Ren.

"And I still got... " he stopped, scanning the room, his eyes focused on a figure in a familiar pristine white mask; she was tall, bearing a feminine physique despite it being hidden by a fur coat. The woman was holding a shard of amethyst lined with intricate runes. But as if sensing his stare, she turned.

"Syris..." Altair wanted to say but broke his stare the moment their eyes crossed. "I still got the Chaos Shard. " he seamlessly continued.

Ren seemed to notice a slight change but did not speak to it, though her eyes did cross the masked woman. She smiled and moved to her.

"Hello. My name is Reina," she said, offering her hand.

"Syris," said the masked woman loud enough for Altair to hear. She'd recognize his cold obsidian eyes the moment their eyes met. Nevertheless, she accepted her hand. Measuring the woman before her.

'... She knows. How?' Altair thought, pointing towards the fire shard he'd wanted to purchase. He stood there awkwardly as the two girls stared at him silently.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"I can explain. "

"Explain what? " said Reina and Syris.

"..."

'what indeed?' he thought. Altair coughed into his palm. "it's been a while. How've you been?"

Syris only stared at him, perking her lips up behind her mask playfully. "And who might you be stranger."

"... The guy who kicked her ass back on—"

"That was a tie, and you know it!" said Syris fiercely.

"no... no... I specifically remember you on the defensive."

"Almost five years, and I see you've learned how to be shameless, " said Altair, feigning shock.

Silvery eyes gleamed fire as her slender hands tightened into fists.